The Ferndale wild card

Advancing to the district tournament in Wesco 4A is a pretty simple affair: Finish in the top four of your league and you’re in.

It’s a different animal in Wesco 3A. Because of the inclusion of Ferndale, which is the lone 3A team in the Northwest Conference, the 3A district tournament has an element of a wild card. Based on their current winning percentages, the Golden Eagles boys and girls basketball teams will knock out a Wesco team from the district tournament.

So how does it work? Glad you asked.

• First off Ferndale must have a winning percentage better than either the Wesco North or South No. 4 seed to qualify for the tournament. As state earlier, the Golden Eagles boys (4-3) and girls (7-0) both have winning percentages that all but guarantee them spots in the district tournament.

• Once Ferndale has clinched a berth based on its winning percentage it will knock out and take the place of the North or South No. 4 seed with the lowest winning percentage (tiebreakers will be decided on Wesco tiebreaker criteria*).

• Ferndale’s seeding is based on its winning percentage (Ferndale cannot assume a district No. 1 seed).

• For example: Right now Ferndale boys are 4-3. The Golden Eagles would knock out the 2-6 Everett Seagulls and the resulting district seeding would look like this:

• Finally if Ferndale and a Wesco team have the same seed number, the Wesco team will be the home team.

* For cross division ties, head to head is applied. For in division ties, head to head is first criteria; if still tied we compare records with common division opponents starting with the top of the division; if not resolved, but both teams are still in the tournament, there is a number draw. If there remains a tie and someone is in or out, we play a tiebreaker.